Sacirbey: They knew about Karadzic deals Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:17:59 By Afshin Rattansi, Afshin Rattansi, Tehran Holbrooke (R) assured Karadzic (L) he could avoid punishment The following is Afshin Rattansi's exclusive full-length interview with former Bosnian foreign minister Mohammad Sacirbey. Afshin Rattansi: I noticed that Richard Holbrooke is saying that it is an outrageous fabrication. What did Karadzic mean by a deal with Richard Holbrooke? Sacirbey: I have actually been aware of the deal from almost the day it was made. In the summer of 1996, Karadzic withdrew from Bosnian politics, presumably. He withdrew from the leadership of his party. Then he was already indicted, but in fact, he was also running to become a member of the Repablica Serbska's (Republic of Serbia) chair in the presidency. All of a sudden he withdrew. That night I met with a US diplomat, a very distinguished gentleman who I have a lot of respect for and he was quite enthused to tell me that Karadzic had withdrawn from politics, and, of course, when I said that why would he withdraw, what is the deal? there was a bit of silence. In the end, it was acknowledged that in fact Karadzic had been promised by Richard Holbrooke that he would not be arrested even though he was indicted and wanted by the war crimes tribunal if he did withdraw, and of course for the next two to three years, Karadzic, in fact, was quite free and was relatively at liberty and without any thr ...
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